Saturday, January 17, 2009

Watch your thoughts

God often seeks to give me a poke when I need to straighten out something in my life. These pokes may come during the gospel reading or homily but most often they are a random thing that I see or read and they always seem to appear when I am struggling with something.

There's a sign at the end of a road near our house that belongs to some sort of christian church that He favors. Not too long ago, the sign said "Watch your thoughts, they become words". Timely, since I have been struggling not to use the word holy in every day speech... holy crap, holy moses, or a favorite of my Dad's: holy lip! I never realized how often I say those things. Using the word holy in these instances are making the word holy ordinary and it loses the power and respect that I should have for holy things.

The other thing I am working on is keeping snotty or critical comments, particularly about my husband, to myself. He's probably tell you that I have not had great success. Well, I'm working on it but, boy, do they fly past my lips with such speed and ease.

The next time I saw that sign, it said, "Watch your words, they become actions" and then, "Watch your actions, they become habits". How easy and quick it is to fall. It sneaks up and before it, it is a habit that takes a month, or so, to break.

I'm struggling to create a good habit. I have a particular coworker (not a favorite) who frequently takes Jesus' name in vain. I want to develop the habit to make a small reparation each time she abuses His name. Have I become hardened to the point of not hearing it? Have I become so accustomed - and by that accepting- of this abuse? How sad when it takes no time at all to create a bad habit but I struggle to create a good one.